Instinctive Scrap Collages

I am a scrap hoarder. Paper scraps, fabric scraps, beautiful enveloped that have arrived in the mail, gorgeous shopping bags, wrapping paper and festive ribbons are stuffed into my boxes and bins and closets. When an art project is finished, I often have beautiful scraps left over. I can't bear to throw them away, so I save them...sometimes for years. Sometimes I even buy beautiful paper, then decide it is too pretty to cut. And then I save it for years.

This weekend I had some extra time on my hands, so of course art was my top choice on how to spend my extra few hours. Instead of pulling out my paints and stamps and stencils and starting something completely new, I decided to work with the little bits and pieces I had been hoarding.

First, I made a collage in my large journal with some Tim Holtz printed tissue paper that I bought about two years ago and never used because it was just too pretty to cut.  I covered my page with it, and added an orange fabric circle flower--one of my own designs that was printed at Spoonflower, a stripe of a yellow fabric design featuring one of Gwen Lafleur's new stencils, and a pink and white stamped scrap of paper.  

I also created a quirky paper doll from scraps and decided that instead of putting it in my doll box when I was done, that I would attach it to the finished page. I had been saving a paper birdcage that was tucked into an envelope--an extra treat from a mail art exchange. Inside the cage, instead of a bird, I used a small ATC sized printout of a journal page that was created with a Jane Davenport stencil. The face of the doll was cut from a fashion magazine, and body parts are leftover paper from a mermaid project. The little legs sticking out of the bottom, as well as the butterfly, are vintage images from The Graphics Fairy.

I was on a roll using up scraps, so I turned to a smaller journal and started a collage using whatever pretty scraps I pulled out of my boxes...just whatever caught my eye at that moment in time. I used the pretty yellow and turquoise stenciled fabric design from the collage above, along with a yellow and white stenciled fabric design with a Jessica Sporn flourish design. I added a favorite Fabulous Florals yellow washi tape from Gwen Lafluer's website, some newsprint, and more of the Tim Holtz tissue paper. In the middle is a beautiful pink flower from The Graphics Fairy. Last, I added a couple strips of another of my own fabrics, a pink floral.

Next was a quick collage using newsprint that had been stamped with a Nathalie Kalbach art foamie, one of Gwen's new stencils printed in aqua on deli paper, and parts of a gorgeous envelope that I received in the mail from a Canadian member of the Paper Traders group. I filled in the gaps with more of the Tim Holtz tissue paper.

Below is another journal collage. This page has a center section of painted newsprint--a happy accident. I had covered my worktable with newsprint, and at the end of the day, liked and saved some of the abstract painted Sunday New York Times. Above and below are pieces of some beautiful les Oiseaux paper that Gwen Lafluer carries on her website. The center piece was an imperfect print of Gwen's Ornamental Petals mask; I arranged it to look like a snowflake, then added black ink at the edges to create a border. The top strip running through the snowflake print is a piece of another of Gwen's papers, a poppy.

Years ago I was experimenting with Photoshop layers and brushes and created this pastel leaf design. I stumbled on a printout of it and decided it would make a good journal background. Around the edges are assorted washi tapes. The tape with words is from Jane Davenport's collection. The pink striped paper is from some packaging, the little brown and white rectangles are printed teabags, the pink and yellow strip is a piece of my fabric (the same one that was used with the giant pink floral collage), and the turquoise half circle is part of an envelope that came in the mail from my sister. It made me happy when I saw the finished page, so I stamped the word "JOY" on the page. At the last minute, I found a washi tape word "dreamy" left over from the collage above, and stuck it on the bottom of the page.

It was fun to just instinctively create with what I found around me, and not worry about making great art, or using the latest art supplies. It was therapeutic to just go with my happy feelings--especially after a long, cold, dark winter that seemed like it would never end!

In Love With Aqua

Aqua has been speaking to me lately. When people ask what my favorite color is I usually say yellow. Then I say pink, then lime, then turquoise. But aqua...the color of the sea, the color of calm...that color is calling to me. It was the color prompt to go with the Paper Traders Altered Rolodex card trade this month, along with the theme of Beach.

I used some painted deli paper and gelli prints for the background, a leftover scrap of layered painted deli paper, a small printed beach photo with the words "we are here" on it, and a strip of commercial scrapbook paper. In the corner I added a bit of an Artistcellar chakra stencil with crackle paint, and smudged a little sepia ink around the edges and over the crackle.

I liked it too much to give it away, so I made another for my trade partner. I was out of the beach paper and painted scrap, but had another printed paper quote: sandy toes, salty kisses. It needed something more, so a scrap of a cutout heart felt just right.

Still on the aqua theme, I made a bunch of ATCs, and one will go to the Paper Traders "winner take all" monthly ATC lottery. The ATC incorporates painted deli paper, gelli prints, stencils, washi tape, part of an old dictionary page, ink and words printed on clear Avery mailing labels.

So the question remains, why is aqua calling to me? Pale blue-green. Why aqua, why now? It is a combination of two chakra colors: blue for the throat and green for the heart. The throat chakra is something I have been working on for years, learning to speak what I am thinking, and suffering through throat constriction and sore throats if I don't voice my thoughts. But green, the heart chakra? Maybe it is that I am at a time of change in my career, shifting to a new location and new responsibilities in my job...and it is a job I love, but there are new responsibilities and expectations. And why the pastel shade, the soft aqua? Could it be telling me to be gentle with myself, not to be such a critical Virgo, not to listen to my inner critic?

Verdigiris Paper Doll

It is really hard not to purchase every new and exciting art supply that I read about, but my drawers and closets are overflowing with supplies, and my shelves house shoeboxes full of unfinished projects, recycled materials begging to be used, and little scraps that are too precious to throw away. So, my personal challenge--and perhaps a New Year's Resolution--is to try to work with what I have on hand and only purchase what is essential.

When I want to do a little art, but don't have time or space for a big project, my default project is creating paper dolls. For this doll, I started with leftover pieces of ATCs that I saved from an exchange that had the theme "Verdigiri". My process is detailed on an older blog post,

http://lindaedkinswyatt.blogspot.com/2013/01/1960s-inspired-verdigri-atcs.html. I started with the doll's dress, glued the central flower from the ATC, and added a little from another card at the neck. Next, I added legs and arms using paper from the first issue of Just Steampunk Magazine. I rummaged through my baggies and boxes of paper doll heads and found a printout of one of my original doll heads that was just the right size and color.

She needed accessories, so I chose, from http://thegraphicsfairy.com/, a vintage man's hat (I added a strip of the aqua paper to match her dress) and some boots that were from an old advertising card. She needed a bit of a skirt, so I used some white paper that had been printed with a stamp and ink from a Distress Ink pad.

The template is from Roses On My Tablehttp://rosesonmytable.ning.com/, an online group that trades all kinds of art, including original paper dolls. I altered the template by cutting the arms and legs in half, rounding the edges, and reattaching them with a mini brad to give even more poseability.

Below is a finished Verdigiri ATC that I kept for my own collection.

 

Day of the Dead ATCs

I have always loved the Day of the Dead artwork. After I did some research on it, I understood the odd combination of religion, culture and art, especially about the meaning of the sugar skulls.

The Day of the Dead theme for October’s heARTist Trading group was pretty far outside my comfort zone, and even after I did a lot of research, I still didn’t know where to begin.

So, I rifled through my boxes and bins and drawers looking for inspiration—which I found in a piece of “scrappy” fabric that I made a while back. It was too brightly colored—garish really—so I tucked it away in the bottom of a box for months. But when I took it out last week, it said “Mexican Fiesta” to me, so I used it as the base of the ATCs.

I auditioned a bunch of other elements, finally settling on a little blue paper sugar skull and some metal crosses that had been in my jewelry components box for ages. The final touch was the “ruby” gems in the eyes, giving it just the right amount of creepy magic.